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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Powershift 2013 Recap

This weekend we sent 17 green clubbers to Powershift, a nation environmental convergence in Pittsburgh, where they attended workshops, listened to speakers, and met other students from around the nation. Speakers ranged from 12-year old activist and songwriter Takaiya Blaney to entrepreneur and environmentalist Tom Steyer. With an overwhelming choice of topics and discussions each day we split up and headed towards the issues that interested each one of us the most. We heard stories from Coal Country, learned economic alternatives to capitalism, talked about permaculture, and strategized about divestment.

One of the coolest things we learned this weekend was about the intersectionality of the environmental movement. Whether you’re more interested in issues of race, class, sexuality, or overall social justice, it all relates to climate change. All of these issues interact on multiple levels and it was fascinating to hear how students and leaders are working across the nation to create clever, multi-dimensional solutions to the existing problems.

National leaders and innovators such as Michael Brune of the Sierra Club and Bill McKibben of 350.org called upon us, the youth, to take action and make our voices heard. Over 6,000 students came together this weekend and stood in solidarity, vowing to take a stance against climate change and even if you couldn’t make it, the power is still in your hands. Get involved, join us! We’re always open to suggestions and now that we’re back on campus we’re excited and itching to take action. If we learned one thing from this weekend it’s that this is OUR movement and we’re ready to fight.